Ezekiel's hearers ; who came to him, just as those who were truly pious did ; and he was to them as " a very lovely song of one that had a pleasant voice, and played well upon an instru- ment : but though they heard his words, they would not do them ; for their heart went after their covetousnessi." Beware, lest by any means the Gospel prove but a dead letter : for if it bring not your whole soul into captivity to Christ, it will be preached, as it respects you, in vain. Beware, I say, of this : for our Lord himself gives you this very caution ; " It is the spirit," says he, " that quickeneth : the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life""."]
2. What fruit a minister expects to find from his labours —
[The Apostle spoke of the Corinthians themselves as bearing the best testimony to his ministrations : and that is the return which we hope to receive from you. Beloved brethren, you yourselves are to be as " epistles of Christ, known and read of all men." Let it be seen that you are such indeed ; that you are " epistles, written, not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God^" The Gospel, whilst it saves you from condemnation, must save you also from sin ; and, whilst you are " delivered by it from the law, as a covenant of works, you are to be serving God, in newness of spirit , and not in the oldness of the letter^." Let us, then, behold this change in you : let us see that " the Son of God hath made you free indeed ;" free from carnal desires ; free from legal hopes or fears ; free to run, with enlarged hearts, the way of God's commandments. Then shall we know that we have not laboured in vain ; and that God has set his seal to our ministry for your good : for " he is not a Jew who is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew who is one inwardly ; and circum- cision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God"^."]
q Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32. ^ John vi. 63. « ver. 2, 3.
t Rom. vii. 6. u Rom. ii. 28, 29.